Our Humans

Kira Premack: Kira is our primary medical authority here at White Elk (apart from our veterinarian), with a Bachelor of Science in Veterinary and Biomedical sciences. She is originally from Vermont where she grew up surrounded by animals from horses to snakes, and nearly everything in between, and does the primary socialization and basic training for all our puppies (and when teaching our adults new tricks).

Ben Premack: Ben is a lifetime animal lover and has raised dogs, cats, hedgehogs, snakes, and a pair of sugar gliders. He is originally from Texas and has lived all over the United States. He loves taking our dogs on adventures all over the Pacific Northwest and pushing our dogs to excel in sports such as agility and nose-work.

Our Origin

Kira had always wanted to help a rare breed grow and develop in a responsible manner. Ben was interested in finding a breed with which he could train to be more than just a house-pet, but that would still make an excellent companion. The health of the breed was paramount in our search and after a few months of research we discovered the Tamaskan Dog. Tamaskan are intelligent, large, and friendly, and the health of the breed is immaculate. The only challenge was the limited breeding pool of dogs in the United States.

Kira and Ben contacted Saxon Tamaskan from Scotland (now relocated to Bulgaria) and a few very short months later Rhea and Sophie arrived as 10 week old bundles of fuzz and joy. A year later, Auri joined the family from Blufawn Tamaskan in England, and the pack was complete.

At White Elk, honesty and openness is ALWAYS the policy. We welcome your questions about our dogs and breeding philosophy.

Our Location

Rhea, Sophie, and Auri live with us and we raise all of our puppies in our home in Bellevue, Washington. We're about 15 minutes outside of Seattle, and an easy 40 minute drive to SeaTac International Airport.

Our Shared Breeding Rights Dogs

We believe that every one of our dogs deserves the love and attention that only a family can provide. In order to expand our breeding program while still ensuring that all our dogs lead an enriched life as part of a family, we retain and share breeding rights to some of our puppies with our adopters. When we retain and share breeding rights, White Elk is responsible for all health testing and reproductive decisions. We work together with the adopting family to develop the Tamaskan breed and grow our breeding program without overloading our ability to give each and every one of our dogs a family environment.